Woke up this morning feeling like I had a hangover. Didn't get to bed until about 1 am, waiting to see a final count, to see what happened in California with Prop 8 (not happy there!) and with Congress but couldn't stay awake.

I still have that excited and proud feeling that the country is going to get better. I know that it's not going to happen overnight and that sacrifices will have to be made but just seeing how the world's opinion of the United States got a little bit better because of the election really makes my heart swell. That the deeply embedded racism in our country, the leftover feelings from the time of segregation, didn't stop people from voting for someone of mixed race just amazes me. Even in my own family.

At some dinner in my parents' house over the summer, my father said he wouldn't vote for Obama because he is black. My dad grew up under a dictator in Spain. Under Franco, the country was crippled and my family had it tough. My dad became a citizen in the 1970s. He has voted in every single election he could since then, no matter how small and always, always, always a staunch democrat. When he told me he wouldn't vote for Obama because of race, he broke my heart. I'm happy to report that we got his vote too by yesterday.

Now we can bring our troops home, where they belong, and let the people of Iraq get down to the business of running their own country. We can win the right war-- the war in Afganistan-- the real war on terror and find Bin Laden. All of the money being spent weekly in Iraq can stop flowing out of our country and start flowing back into it.

We went out for breakfast and Wayne and I were both famished, having been too worked up to really eat anything yesterday. I had the little Obama button I received from Moveon.org on my sweater and when the waitress asked where I got it, I gave it to her. Felt good.

From breakfast we went to SIX different places trying to buy newspapers. I wanted a USA Today and a New York Times. No one had any newspapers anywhere. We got a NY Post at a one gas station and a USA Today from another. I hope my sister was able to find a Times for me.

We came home and I crashed for a three hour nap. I guess I was riding all that stress and tension and I just needed to collapse and regroup for awhile.

I just called the NY Times back issue office to be told that the hold time is 45 minutes and they'll call me back. Yikes.

PARIS – Barack Obama's election as America's first black president unleashed a global tide of admiration, hopes for change and even renewed love for the United States on Wednesday.

The president of Kenya declared a public holiday in Obama's honor, and people across Africa stayed up all night or woke before dawn to watch U.S. election history being made.

In Indonesia, where Obama lived as child, hundreds of students at his former elementary school erupted in cheers when he was declared winner and poured into the courtyard where they hugged each other, danced in the rain and chanted "Obama! Obama!"

"Your victory has demonstrated that no person anywhere in the world should not dare to dream of wanting to change the world for a better place," South Africa's first black president, Nelson Mandela, said in a letter of congratulations to Obama.

Rama Yade, France's black junior minister for human rights, told French radio: "On this morning, we all want to be American so we can take a bite of this dream unfolding before our eyes."

Many expressed amazement and satisfaction that the United States could overcome centuries of racial strife and elect an African-American — and one with Hussein as a middle name — as president.

"What an inspiration. He is the first truly global U.S. president the world has ever had," said Pracha Kanjananont, a 29-year-old Thai sitting at a Starbuck's in Bangkok. "He had an Asian childhood, African parentage and has a Middle Eastern name. He is a truly global president."